"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." Gandhi.

What to expect . . . in 2014

We bid adieu to 2013 more than a month ago. In the first few weeks of 2014, most of us have made mental ledgers of our achievements and morbid lists of our failures of the past year. The pragmatic ones among us have quickly rejoiced or sulked, whatever the case may be, and moved on to what the New Year, 2014, will bring for us.

Whether Martians like it or not, we are sending cargo to Mars in 2014. Thank Goodness we are checking out their hospitality before sending humans.

Mind controlled exoskeletons will be used this year for the first time by a paralyzed teen to start the World Cup in Brazil. It is controlled by electrical signals of the brain and reads the electrodes that are placed on the surface of the head or directly in the brain. The exoskeleton will support the lower part of the body and enable the paralyzed wearer to walk using wireless electrodes attached to the head that collect brainwaves, which then signal the suit to move.

This to me is the best news of the New Year.

Oh ! you must have heard the 103, 445, 364, 445, 345 google times told punch line, ‘God created Earth . . . and then Google took over! ‘

Google Glass is going to change the world – once more. You wear the device on your head like a headband and voila! You are all set to do a multitude of amazing things. Speak to take a picture, share, record, translate and ask. Basically, have a personal assistant except it is going to sit on your head.

Petroleum will start wooing us soon if cars like Hyundai bring us hydrogen and oxygen powered cars and only take a couple of minutes to refuel. They will also be fast.

Other things fast and furious will be faster and more furious. For all the advancements in technology, we will still have 24 hours in a day. Bu since we can achieve more in less time now, we would want to do more. All this has and will lead to more multitasking and hyper efficiency. We will use all our senses to their optimum so we don’t waste a second.

We will also be more conscious of invasion of privacy. Some of us though will still order private drones from Amazon to invade someone else’s.

We will be increasingly be aware of our diets and exercise regimens but less about the peace of mind. We will continue to be astonished at our minds’ capacity to ponder over a thing for a long time.

Words like “Selfies” and “Twerk” might make us cringe with their overuse. Maybe we will start using other words that make us roll our tongue more but make us say it quicker like ‘sup’ for ‘what is up ?’or ‘totes ‘for ‘totally.’

You can’t really tell how this new year will un-word itself.

The New Year will give us more outrageous fashion statements by the likes of lady Gaga, unbelievable political scandals to mull over for half a day when something else will come along and a city-load of technological information to process. We just hope it will keep us looking forward to groundbreaking news like a space concert in the next year.